Taste good, do good: 5 bakeries you can feel good about visiting

From the way it’s grown to the people who prepare it, these small businesses with big hearts care about more than just what’s on your plate…

1. Luminary Bakery

This bakery is a social enterprise with a focus on helping disadvantaged women. They use baking skills as a way to increase confidence and employability, as well as creating some rather lovely cakes! Stop by for afternoon tea, or order one of their gorgeous celebration cakes for your next big birthday.

A post shared by Luminary Bakery (@luminarybakery) on May 21, 2018 at 1:01am PDT

2. E5 Bakehouse

I’m a sucker for converted railway arches, and this bakery has THREE of them, so it’s guaranteed to be a winner! E5 bakehouse focus on using sustainable, locally sourced ingredients, and all their bread is baked fresh on the day it’s sold. They even have their own stone mill, and hope in the future to be able to grow much of their own crops for grinding. Great for bread, cookies, and even baking equipment, this bakery is a cosy baker’s haven!

Their motto is ‘Tackling homelessness one espresso at a time’, and that’s really what they’re about! Second Shot aim to create a friendly environment in which people suffering from homelessness can enjoy a free ‘pay it forward’ coffee or meal, and even get training as a barista. The coffee itself is exceptional, with a multi-roast brewing menu that changes weekly. The founder, Julius, describes their work as “unpretentiously serving the best coffee in London, whilst changing lives on a daily basis.”

Working with Bake for Syria, the bakery specific arm of Cook for Syria, Pophams have created their gorgeous 100% of the proceeds from each pastry sold goes toward Unicef’s Children of Syria fund. Flavoured with pistachio, almonds, rosewater and honey, this pastry is the very definition of tasting good whilst doing good!

Part of the Providence Row charity collective, Rise Bakery aims help people struggling with homelessness by teaching them baking skills, and helping them into sustainable employment. All their goods are baked by people who used to be homeless, and many of their graduates go on to work as mentors, or return to working in other industries.